by Brian Fuller
Helo helped for a while, trying to fend off the emptiness of losing Melody, an emptiness compounding with every passing hour. He tried to lose himself in the work, and for a time that helped, but the ache of Melody’s sacrifice ate at him hour by hour.
After helping reclaim bodies from the receding floodwater, he stole away to be alone, finding his way back to KC Live! and to the crack in the earth where Melody had turned to ash.
He sat down in the predawn darkness and dangled his legs over the side. Water dripped into the dark pool at the bottom, but it was still too dark to see. He was tempted to stab himself in the heart and throw himself in just to be with her, but he knew he wasn’t quite done. But surely the purpose that left him Unascended was accomplished. It couldn’t be long before he would be taken home, taken to her.
Within himself, he could still feel the connection to infinite light Melody’s sacrifice had brought him. How had she known? She always had been quicker at solving the mysteries. Though he reminded himself he had figured out one of the key ones before she had. How he treasured that rapturous feeling, meeting her there in the light, naked with nothing but joy between them.
He pressed his thumb against the lump in his left palm. The quiet diamond slept within his angelic flesh. What would they even do with it? They had to find someplace it could never be found, some pit so remote and so impossible to get to that no one would find it for a thousand years.
Outside, an ambulance flashed its lights and blared its horn, tires splashing on the wet street. The National Guard was on its way. With the sky lightening, Helo decided he should meditate. He could use Rapture right now. He hoped maybe he would find Melody in their little campsite, but when his solitary sphere collapsed into the sun, she wasn’t there. She had done some work, though. It made him smile despite his pain.
To the already brilliant night sky she had added a small planet the color of a sapphire. The lake now had a small island with a little cottage made of wood and white plaster that gleamed in the moonlight. And their tent? It now had a shower, jacuzzi, and guitar room. She’d been missing those modern conveniences, after all. He tried not to look at the bed as he left the tent. Simply being here was like being with her in a way, but in a way that would only hurt and never satisfy.
“Helo!”
He was jerked out of his meditation by a familiar voice. It was Scarlet, her face sympathetic. Helo turned back to the chasm. Of all the people he didn’t want to see. He’d forgotten to tell her about Corinth. Did she even know? Would she even care?
She sat to his left at the edge and looked into the dark crack with him. “So is this where . . .”
“Yeah,” Helo answered. “Corinth died just down the street, there. I’m sorry.”
“I heard,” she said, pulling a scrunchy out of her hair and shaking it loose. “He was a great guy. I wasn’t very fair to him. I am sorry for that . . . but . . . I can’t help but see that I was right about us. I’m not asking for anything right now, Helo. I am not that selfish. But I hope in time you will remember what I said to you back at the Foundry. I meant it, and in time I think you’ll see it the way I do.” She put her hand on his arm. “There are second chances, Helo.”
Helo felt cold. How could he ever explain to her how what she was asking was impossible after what he and Melody had experienced together? He had the feeling that even if he told her he never wanted to talk to her again, she would just smile and keep believing he would come around someday.
Then Rapture.
It didn’t come with the power he had hoped. It would have been better if Scarlet had left him in the meditation. But for a brief moment in time, his mind emptied of nothing but light, a relief he desperately needed but couldn’t hang on to. It rolled out of his heart, and when it left, his connection to the infinite light had gone with it. No!
In shock, he opened his eyes . . . to find Melody sitting at his right, as naked as the day she was born. Helo’s heart soared, but his mouth found nothing to say. He didn’t dare question it, didn’t really care about the whys or wherefores. She grabbed his hand. She was real. She wasn’t some trick of his imagination or some ethereal vision.
“Hey, Scarlet,” Melody said, leaning around him. “Would you mind, you know, leaving? Like, right now?”
Scarlet’s open-jawed surprise melted into tears, and she got to her feet and stalked out crying. Helo closed his eyes. That sound was like a magnet that pulled him toward her, begged him to follow her and try to make it right. He hated it. Melody squeezed his hand.
“You know,” she said, “from all you’ve told me about her, I always pictured her as a bit flighty, but she really is kind of persistent.”
“In all the bad ways,” Helo said. Then he kissed her. She kissed him back. And after a few pleasurable moments, the universe seemed to level out and firm up.
She smiled and tapped his nose. “Aren’t you wondering how I’m back?”
“Another mystery?” he said.
“The best one. I didn’t know this one until after I had gone into the light,” she said. “I really thought I was saying goodbye for good . . . or at least for a good while. After what Avadan said about his connection with King giving him access to power, I realized that our bonding would do the same for you if I was permanently in the light. Or temporarily, as it turns out. But—lucky me—since we have bonded—like, all the way—as long as one of us is still here in the mortal world, the other will always return. That’s the last mystery. We literally can’t be without the other. Cool, huh?”
It was perfect. It was perfect because it was her. “Better than cool. Let’s get you dressed and get out of here, just you and me. We can find a little place to meditate and work on that little cabin on the island. What’s in there, anyway?”
“You saw that, huh?”
“I went looking for you,” he said.
She kissed him. “Well,” she said, voice turning dramatic, “it’s Melody’s mystery cabin of love and sexy secrets. Okay, not really. It’s like this library slash listening nook slash coffee bar thing. It’s great. I can’t wait to show it to you, but before we can have our little getaway, I promised one Cassandra, aka Fleuramere, that I would send you back for—what did she call it?—employee evaluation or some such thing.”
He chuckled. “Sounds about right. But let’s just sit for a while. Cassandra’s business can wait.”
They sat in silence for time uncounted at the edge of the chasm. His life really couldn’t get much better now. What they had together was the last piece of his puzzle, the one that made his picture whole.
Sparks marched in, Faramir trailing wearing someone else’s clothes. “Look what I found,” Sparks said. “Kamikaze truck-bomb boy. He’s . . . wait a minute. She’s dead.”
“Surprise,” Melody said.
Faramir’s mouth dropped open. “Is this more of that couples meditation thing you guys do?”
“Yep,” Helo said.
“That’s it,” Sparks said, digging a phone out of his pocket. “I’m texting Archus Magdelene right now. Time to get this metro on the tracks.”
Sparks’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Faramir strolled over and peered down into the water. “What’s Sicarius Nox supposed to do now?”
“There are no more Shedim to hunt,” Helo said. “Right now we help the Old Masters help the normals.”
“Done and done,” Sparks said, pocketing his phone. “Let’s get out there and get some dirt on those fingers, Faramir. Lots of damp carpet and mud to move around.”
“Joy,” Faramir grumped. “Maybe I could, you know, do something else.”
Sparks put his arm around his shoulder. “Let’s go, drone boy. See you around, Helo, Melody. So, Faramir, would you rather go through life without electronics or without pizza?”
“Dude,” Faramir said, “That is an impossible question . . .”
Helo watched them go, wondering what the future held for either one. What would the hunter Sparks do now that there wasn’t m
uch left to hunt?”
“Hey,” Melody said, “Cassandra was pretty serious about seeing you, so . . .” She looked around. “Could you grab that pistol over there?”
“Yeah, sure.” There were a number of guns left behind by the Possessed after they’d been freed. He grabbed a .38 revolver.
Then he remembered. “Wait, before you shoot me . . .”
He dug into his hand and pulled out the diamond. As soon as it left his body, it went crazy and he almost lost it in the crack. The agonized, angry feeling that radiated from it when it left his body made Melody flinch away.
“Take it,” he said. “Let it burrow under your skin.”
Her eyes widened. “This is it!” She took it gingerly, and it vibrated and cut her hand until it was inside her. “I knew you had Exorcised him, but I didn’t even think about where he had ended up.”
“Well, don’t lose it,” he said.
“Duh, Helo.”
She shot him in the heart. “Okay. Clothes, please. I’ll have to move some fat around to give myself a man bod so they kind of fit.”
He stripped and handed her his Michaels uniform. They kissed again. He was ready for another honeymoon right now. But if Cassandra wanted to see him, he knew better than to delay more than he already had.
“See you tomorrow morning, dear,” Melody said, and with a smile she shoved him into the yawning crack to be swallowed by the dark water and then awakened into the light.
“Hey, Jarhead.”
His trainer stood in front of him, blonde hair spilling over an exquisite robe of blinding white. Her person was electric, his very bones vibrating with the glory of her presence. It was the most angelic she had ever been.
“Hey, Fleuramere.”
Her blue eyes sparkled. “You finally made me look good, so a big thanks for that. Now I don’t have to pretend I didn’t train you to the other angels.”
He laughed. “You’re hilarious. So, am I done? Can Melody and I come sing in the choir or whatever it is you do up here?”
Fleuramere shook her head. “No. You still haven’t accomplished your purpose. Besides, with that little bonded meditation you do, you’re about as close to heaven as you can get without actually being there.”
“I haven’t accomplished my purpose?” A fear struck him that there might be more Avadans out there to put down. “That whole Avadan and King thing wasn’t my purpose?”
Cassandra cocked her head. “Oh, that was all well and good, but the work’s never done, especially when you are the project. I gotta say—that Melody, she’s a real keeper. Just gorgeous. Six months, Helo . . .”
“I know, I know,” Helo said. How long would he have to apologize? “I should have done what you said. I get it.”
“He can learn!” Cassandra quipped. “There has been some debate about that. Well, good. You’re all grown up now. Mama Fleuramere can finally do something besides worry about you all the time.” She reached a hand out and placed it on his cheek, his nerves all waking up at once. “But, seriously, Trace, Helo, Angel Born, Unascended, and an angel name to come, I don’t think I’ve been more proud of anyone in my life. I don’t know exactly when I came to believe in what you could do, but I did. You were a blessing to me.”
He felt like making things light by reminding her of all the times he drove her crazy, but this wasn’t the time. Cassandra always seemed to be joking or mocking or sarcastic, but in this moment he understood to his core that she spoke what she really felt. There could be no misunderstanding.
“Thanks, Cassandra, Fleuramere, and all those other names I called you under my breath. Thanks for everything.”
“You are welcome,” she said, dropping her hand. “I will miss you, Helo, but it’s time for you to focus on that woman you don’t deserve and make sure she never regrets choosing you.”
Dolorem appeared beside Cassandra. “That’s right,” he said. “She’s still my girl and always will be. And if she ain’t happy, well, I’ll come down there and do that whole angel-with-a-sword bit on your . . . posterior.” Dolorem looked at Cassandra. “Is that okay to say?”
Cassandra shrugged. “I’ve said worse.”
“Great. Anyway, good work! You saved a lot of people. Go eat a deep-fried-donut bacon cheeseburger for me. Say hi to my Tela for me.”
“I will,” he said. “She misses you.”
“Now don’t make a grown man cry,” Dolorem said. “Oh! And remember the Redemption Motorcycle Club! If you get bored, maybe feeling a little like doing some good . . .”
Helo smiled. “You mean helping people fall asleep sitting up.”
“You were improving,” Dolorem said.
“No, I wasn’t.”
Dolorem put a hand on his shoulder. “I think you’ll find you’re a lot better at the preaching thing than you used to be. I’m not pressuring you or anything, just an idea to rattle around in your head.”
“Okay,” Helo said. “No promises.”
“Good enough.”
Then Aclima flared into view with a softness in her almond eyes that had been such a rarity when he knew her. She said nothing but wrapped him in her arms, a white blinding glory filling his vision, a burning filling him with such intense heat he thought he might crumble to ash right there. She released him, eyes full of tears.
“I owe you everything,” she said. “Thank you for believing in what I could be. If anyone makes you miserable during your remaining days, I swear to you I will drop on them like fire from heaven and fill their last moments with burning regret.”
She wasn’t kidding.
“Can she say that?” Dolorem asked Cassandra.
“I’ve said worse.”
“Now,” Aclima said, “do you remember when I told you I wanted to take you some place away from all of Cain’s anger? Somewhere you could hide and live your days in peace?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Have you found that place?”
“I have,” he said, anxious for time alone with Melody.
“Good,” she said, her smile wistful. “I understand that you think you don’t deserve Melody’s love, but who deserves love more than the one who loved someone who didn’t deserve it? I would warn you to treat Melody well as my fellow angels have already done, but I don’t need to. I know you will. She is a lucky woman. So was I. Believe it.”
He nodded, heart full.
“Okay,” Cassandra said. “I’m afraid the love-in is over. Time for us to go. Oh yeah. One last thing. That little diamond you have. It goes to Ramis. It is his penance to carry it.”
“But he’s a Dread!” Helo said. “He’s—”
“It is his task,” Cassandra thundered in her angel voice, presence brightening, eyes fiery.
Helo put up his hands. “Got it.”
She returned to normal and smiled. “That is so much fun. Tell Ramis I will visit him. It will help.”
“I will.”
Fleuramere regarded him softly for several moments. “We love you. Good luck, Helo, and may God be with you.”
“Bye!” Dolorem said with a little salute.
Aclima just smiled.
Then they were gone, and he was left standing alone in the White Room, a whisper of sadness passing over his heart. Those three had been family to him, people so important he could never forget them or let them out of his heart. He’d miss them. Maybe if he did something really stupid they would feel compelled to visit him again.
“Don’t even think about it,” said a voice behind him. It was Rachel, smiling at him, arms outstretched. “And the first shall be last. How are you, my boy?”
“Good,” he said, hugging her. “Great, actually.”
“Serves you right,” she said. “I know we only had a scant few moments together in the mortal world, but I think you know now that Melody and I have had you skulking around in our noggins for a good number of years before we met.”
He nodded. It actually led to a question he didn’t think he’d ever have answered. “Why
me?”
Rachel tsked. “So sure it was about you? More about her than you, really.”
“Melody?”
“Who else?” Rachel said, eyes mirthful. “A heart as good as hers couldn’t be entrusted to just any man. You may think you’re the one who expelled King from the world, but when you reflect on it, it was her love that did the work, that gave you the strength. You understand me?”
“I do.”
“Good. Well, have you been told to treat her right?”
“Several times.”
“Open doors for her,” Rachel said. “She opened them for you.”
That was true. “I will.”
“Now,” she said. “There is another mission for you. When you return to the mortal world, Melody will have a vision and receive her final Bestowal, a Bestowal that will make her on the outside what she is on the inside. She will tell you where to go and what needs to be done. Be good, Helo. That’s all there is left for you to do until your time is done.”
With a parting wink she disappeared, leaving Helo waiting impatiently for the dawn.
Chapter 50
Caretaker
Helo materialized in the living room of the white farmhouse. Melody had thoughtfully remembered to bring a blanket and wrapped him up in it when he appeared at her side. She held her guitar. No one else was in the room with them, though the squeaky boards upstairs and the growl of a tractor out back hinted that someone was around.
“Welcome back,” she said. “Fun, isn’t it? It’s such a comfort to know that if you do something crazy and get yourself ashed, I can get you back. So, what did Fleuramere have to say?”
Helo recounted the experience to her, including everyone’s dire warnings about treating her well. “We’ve apparently got one more mission to do. You’re going to have a vision and get your final Bestowal sometime soon.”
She sighed. “Work? Really?”
“I know.”
The creaking stairs heralded Martha. She held a bundle of clothes in her arms. She was back to her old farmer’s-wife self, which Helo preferred. “There you are, Helo,” she said, putting the clothes on his lap. I’ll find you some boots before lunch. You hungry?”